As Halle Berry promotes her new movie, 'Kidnap,' the conversation is turning to her life growing up in Cleveland.
The Oscar-winning actress sat down with Jess Cagle, editor-in-chief of People Magazine recently, and talked about her biracial background and life as a student at Bedford High School.
Berry says her and her sister were called names because her mother was white and her father was black.
“Because my mother was white and my father was black… we got called Oreos and names, and kids just didn’t understand, so we were different," Berry tells People. "We were the brunt of a lot of jokes. So, I think my need to please and my desire to achieve was because I was constantly trying to prove that I was as good as the other white students. I felt very ‘less than,’ and I thought, ‘If I can beat them at everything, then I can be as good as them.'”
She said she overcome the jokes and ended up an honor student, cheerleader, and class president.
Watch Halle Berry's conversation with Jess Cagle below: